This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance (and for this we labor and strive) that we have put our hope in the living God who is the Savior of all, and especially of those who believe.
1 Timothy 3:9-10

Thursday, January 31, 2013

This coming Sunday a new NFL champion will be crowned,
and it will be either the Baltimore Ravens or the San Francisco 49ers. And, if
you are one of more than a quarter of Americans, you believe that God will
actively decide the winner of the game.

According to a recent survey by the Public Religion
Research Institute, 27 percent of Americans believe that God “plays a role in determining
which team wins a sporting event.” However, the numbers get even more specific
than that. About 40 percent of minority Christians and white evangelical
Protestants believe God determines outcomes, while only 19 percent of mainline
Protestants do.

Thirty-six percent of Americans living in the South agree
that God plays a role in sports. However, in perhaps a twist of expectations,
28 percent of Democrats agree, while only 25 percent of Republicans think that
God plays a role.

But in addition to God’s overall role in the outcome of
games, a majority of all Americans — 53 percent — believe “God rewards athletes
who have faith with good health and success.”

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Here is a devotional thought as we prepare for prayer this evening at 6:30 at NRN:

Before the
throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in Heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan
tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him
there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
The King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!

Words:
Charitie Bancroft, 1863.

Music: William Bradbury, 1861.

We will go before the throne of God this evening at our prayer time. You are invited to join us in room 133 tonight at 6:30 - or send me your prayer request through a comment. PR

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

How a commitment to love people as they are brought
growth to Creekside Church.

During its heyday during the Jesus movement in the late
1970s, Creekside
Church—known then as Christ Church of Northgate—was afire with 2,000
members.

But the Seattle church declined precipitously in the
ensuing years, dropping to 350 members by 1995.

“By the time Pastor Don Ross came, we were a pretty
hurting church,” says church elder Rick Hertzog, 60, a Seattle resident and
travel agency owner. “We had undergone a church split. So we were definitely
not reaching out to other people.”

In his first decade at the church, Ross worked to address
many of the issues behind the decline. Nonetheless, attendance continued to
fall, reaching 175 in 2004.

“We were like a leper colony for Jesus,” Ross says.
“Nobody wanted to be with us, but at least we had each other.”

In 2005, the church sold its four-acre,
80,000-square-foot campus and relocated to a 10-acre elementary school campus
in nearby Mountlake Terrace, Wash.

Then, during a leadership meeting, Hertzog made a
poignant remark: “Nothing is going to change in our church just because we’ve
had a change of address. Our hearts have to change.”

Inspired by the comment, Ross asked God to transform his
heart. Not long afterward, Ross realized the change he needed to make was to
“just love the people.”

While praying one day, Ross says the Lord asked him, “If
this church never grows by one more person, will you love the 175 that are here
and lead them to heaven?”

“At that point, we had not had a new visitor in over two
years,” Ross says. “After that conversation, when I started promising to love
people just the way they are, visitors just started showing up.”

As Ross loved his flock, a “genuine change of heart”
spread throughout the congregation. As the church grew, Ross says his
congregation started praying and caring for others at a deeper level.

In 2009, shortly before the church finished remodeling
the new campus, Ross asked everyone to write on an unpainted wall the name of a
friend, neighbor or co-worker they wanted to come to Jesus.

On Easter, Christmas and other major holidays, Ross also
encouraged his flock—in what became known as “3-1-1”—to write down the names of
three people they wanted to receive Jesus, and to pray for them each day at 1
p.m. for a minute.

In short order, more and more people came to the church,
and many received Christ and got baptized.

“It created a ripple effect as more people began to bring
their friends to church,” Ross says. “Now, we have three or four generations
that have come to our church, meaning three years ago they brought a friend and
that friend brought a friend and so on. You can track back three or four
spiritual generations of people who have brought their friends to church.”

Today, Creekside Church has about 1,500 people who call
it their “church home,” with about 600 attending on any given Sunday.

Ross, founder and coach of the Turnaround
Church Coaching Network, works with pastors to teach them the principles,
both internal and external, to help them lead a turnaround in their church too.

Monday, January 28, 2013

I remember the first time I went to a mall. Raised in a
small town in the southeastern section of Alabama, I was amazed when I went to
the "big city" mall in Montgomery. All the stores were under one
roof. They were new and shiny. The venture became an adventure for me.

But that was fifty years ago. Things have changed. Things
have changed significantly.

As Jeff Jordan notes in The Atlantic Cities, the future
of American shopping malls is tenuous.

The Plight of the American Shopping Mall

As Jordan says in his prescient article, the trends are
gloomy for malls. Sales are down. Numbers of malls have closed or they are on
the precipice of closing. Vacancy rates are up. Jordan notes "there are
more than 200 malls with over 250,000 square feet that have vacancy rates of 35
percent or higher, a clear marker for shopping center distress." He
further provides data that indicate over 10 percent of malls will close in the
next five years.

Of course, the declaration of the death of American malls
is an overstatement or, at the very least, a premature obituary. Many malls will
remain open; a number will remain viable and growing. Still, the trends are
unmistakable and unavoidable. Only those who deny reality will fail to note the
implications of this issue.

The Relationship to Church Facilities

Is it then fair to suggest any relationship between the
decline of the malls and the future of the church buildings? I think so. To be
sure, most malls are adversely affected by the growth of online shopping. There
are not too many brick and mortar stores that don't feel the impact of the
Internet.

But there is more to the decline of the malls than the
rise of the digital world. The Boomer generation has been the generation of
bigness and sprawl. Their parents, in the aftermath of World War II, moved
numbers of them to the new and massive suburbia. Large malls would soon follow.
Most large megachurch buildings were constructed primarily for the favor of the
Boomers.

But the children of the Boomers, Generation X and, even
more, the Millennials, have been pushing for more intimacy and smallness. They
triggered the unprecedented growth of Starbucks. They have been the key movers
in social media, which has fostered a new online intimacy.

Among the Christian Millennials there is a desire for
greater intimacy in church. They are in many ways triggering a new small group
revolution. And though they may not have an explicit aversion to large church
facilities, neither are they attracted to them.

The Future Size of Church Facilities

As there will still be large malls twenty years from now,
so will there be large church facilities whose worship centers can accommodate
2,000 or more in one service. But you will also see a discernible difference in
megachurches in ten or twenty years. Fewer of these large churches will have
large facilities. More will have smaller worship centers and multiple venues,
many with multiple gathering times and days.

The trend in smaller facilities will not be limited to
just the largest of churches. Churches of all sizes will "downsize."
Or, as an alternative, they will not build larger the first moment the capacity
feels challenged in their worship services.

A Boomer church leader looks at a small building and
limited acreage and sees challenges. He sees the limitations of size and space.
A Millennial leader looks at the same building and acreage and sees
opportunity. He immediately thinks multiple venues, multiple services, and
multiple days.

It will be fascinating to watch these trends unfold.
Large malls will yield to online shopping and smaller and more intimate
shopping villages. And large church buildings will yield to smaller church
buildings and other venues that aren't "churchy" at all. The result
may be that we will see our church facilities actually utilized more; greater
facility stewardship could result. After all, only college football stadiums
are utilized less than church facilities.

Dr. Thom Rainer is president and CEO of
LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention

Modern
photography is amazing. With one lens, a photographer can zoom in on an object
far and make it appear near. Then he can put on a wide-angle lens and get the
big picture from close-up.

Time-lapse
photography is one of the most interesting methods. Every night, the weatherman
shows how clouds advanced over our area with satellite pictures. Though seeming
to be in continuous motion, they are actually taken by time-lapse every
half-hour or so and placed in sequence. You may have seen a flower photographed
in this way and made to appear to sprout before your very eyes. If one had
watched constantly, the changes were taking place so slowly that they would not
have been noticeable.

What about
applying time-lapse to history? Let's look at the church of Christ at Ephesus.

PICTURE #1:
SPROUTING - A.D. 52.

On Paul's second
mission tour, he visited Ephesus after leaving Corinth, and evidently planted
the church there (Acts
18:19). Ephesus means desirable, and in many ways it was a desirable place
to live. It was thought to have been founded by the Amazons about 2000 B.C. and
was located in west Asia Minor, near the sea. This first glimpse is of sprouts
just cracking open the ground.

PICTURE #2:
WEEDING - A.D. 54-56.

On the third
preaching journey, Paul spent between two and three years teaching in the city
(Acts
19:8-10). He spent his time weeding out false doctrines and pagan
practices. Ephesus derived its greatness from two sources, commercial trade and
religion. During the Roman Period it was a center for the mother goddess
worship, known to the Greeks as Artemis and to the Romans as Diana. Diana is a
beautiful name, and one might suppose that Diana would be a beautiful goddess.
To the contrary, Diana of the Ephesians was a short, squat, repulsive-looking
character covered with many breasts which emphasized fertility. It was believed
by the superstitious Ephesians that Diana fell down from heaven. The
magnificent temple of Diana took more than a century to construct. It was built
about 400 B. C. and burned the night Alexander the Great was born. Immediately
rebuilt, it could accommodate 24,500 persons and is reckoned as one of the
seven wonders of the ancient world. Worship in the Temple was comprised of the
burning of incense and the playing of flute music as a result of which the
people reached an emotional frenzy in which shameless sexual orgies were
engaged (Marlin). These immoral practices of the priestesses and the merchants
hawking silver shrines made it a difficult place to preach the Gospel.
Nonetheless, this teaching in the school of Tyrannus was
so successful that those who practiced magical arts brought their books and
burned them (valued at 50,000 pieces of silver) (Acts
19:18-20). The sale of silver shrines began
to fall off, and the silversmiths caused uproar (Acts
19:26-41). After this was settled Paul left for Macedonia. It was during
this stay that he wrote 1 Corinthians. It is now a well-groomed garden - the
church even has elders.

PICTURE #3:
NURTURING - A.D. 57.

Paul stopped on
the nearby island of Miletus and made his farewell address to the Ephesian
elders (Acts
20). Their mutual love is evident as these tenderhearted men weep because
they will see Paul's face no more. Their desire to depart with prayer gives
evidence of their spirituality. The picture now is of a church that has been
carefully nurtured to the point of strong health.

PICTURE #4:
WATERING - A.D. 62.

About a decade
after the church had been started, Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesians
commending their faith and love. A careful reading of this epistle shows that
they had done well. They appeared well organized and busy. During these early
years they had been growing, expanding and doing the will of God. He commends
their sincerity (Ephesians
6:24). Teaching is to Christians what watering is to plants - necessary and
strengthening (1
Corinthians 3:6). Timothy (1
Timothy 1:3-4), Acquila and Priscilla (Acts
18:25), and Apollos had all spent time watering the Ephesian church. It
should have been one of the most thoroughly instructed of all the first-century
congregations. The picture now is a well-watered and self-sufficient church.

PICTURE #5:
PRODUCING - A.D. 66.

A few years
later, in all probability very soon after the beginning of the Jewish war,
tradition says that the city became the home of the Apostle John. This may or
may not be true, but circumstances make it possible, if not probable. He was
supposed to have taken Mary, the mother of Jesus, there to live (cf. John
19:26-27). This picture is of a church faithfully serving their Lord and
producing the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians
5:21-23; John
15:1-3).

PICTURE #6:
WILTING - A.D. 96.

It was probably
during the reign of Domitian (81-96 A.D.) that John was banished to Patmos. He
was released and died during the reign of Trajan according to Iraneus (an early
church historian). Tradition relates that at a very old age John, too feeble to
walk, would be carried into this church's assembly and would admonish the members,
little children, love one another. During this period the Lord gives His
assessment of the Ephesian church through the apostle John (Revelation
2:1-7). He compliments them on their works, but has found a disease in the
plant. They have left their first love (Revelation
2:4). He commands immediate action - repent, remember, repeat (the first
works) (Revelation
2:5).

PICTURE #7:
DEAD - A.D. 200.

We have no way of
knowing whether they corrected their problem and later were poisoned by some
false doctrine, but, sadly, the church died sometime during the second century.
It evidently passed into apostasy as it is known in later centuries as a
leading city for the councils of the early Roman church. The picture now is of
a dead plant, brown and dried up.

Time-lapse
photography is interesting. What if the church where we attend had been
historically photographed? At which stage would we now be? The ending does not
have to be a sad one, the Lord's vineyard need never die. He will come one day
and transplant His faithful vineyards over in the land when the tree of life
and the Rose of Sharon continually bloom.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Tomorrow is once again going to be an awesome day at NRN ! God has placed a message upon my heart and I have taken several hours this week to study to show myself approved as a workman for the Lord to divide the Word of truth and prepare my heart to be clean before God to present His Word!

As I prepare my heart for church I love to take the time to sing the worship set with no one but the LORD listening:

As I continue in the current teaching series, here is the theme of the message:

Paul, The Way &
Demetrius, the Idol Maker

Acts Chapters 19 and 20

"You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in
heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.You shall not bow down to them or worship
them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for
the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
but showing love to a thousand [generations] of those who love me and keep my
commandments.Exodus 20:4-6

Think about this command, and what “idols” you may be tempted to
“worship.” What does it mean that God is jealous for you? Think about the fact
that you matter to Him. He loves you!

Thursday, January 24, 2013

We know which two National Football
League teams will face each other in Super Bowl XLVII on February 3 — the
Baltimore Ravens and the San Francisco 49ers.

The Super Bowl will also feature
a head coaching showdown of brothers, with Jim Harbaugh leading the 49ers and
John Harbaugh in charge of the Ravens. The game marks only the second time
brothers have faced each other in NFL history, with the previous game also
including the Harbaughs on Thanksgiving night in 2011, when the Ravens defeated
the 49ers by a score of 16-6.

Meanwhile, the
National Hockey League finally started a shortened season this past weekend
after a collective bargaining agreement was ultimately reached. It took 113 days. A total of 625
regular-season games were sacrificed, or over half the 2012-13 season.

And the National Basketball
Association is already at its midseason, with more strong teams than ever in
the race and more individual players standing out each night.

It’s a professional sports fan’s
greatest time of the year. I love it!

There are many faith lessons to be
learned from sports. Here is some advice from Hall of Fame basketball coach
John Wooden.

1.Get
in Shape: A team must be conditioned to perform at its peak.
POINT: This lesson speaks to you and those you serve. Have you put on the whole
armor of God (Ephesians 6)? Have you prepared yourself to fight the good fight?

2.Learn
the Fundamentals: Teams do not win because they can dunk the basketball. They win because they play defense, pass
the ball, rebound the ball, and play their positions.

POINT: The fundamentals of the faith, such as prayer, Bible reading,
stewardship, and a heart for the lost are essential if we are to mature as a
body of believers.

3.Play as
a Team: The game of basketball is a team sport. We hear repeatedly that there
is no “I” in team.

POINT: This is especially true in the church. Pastors will come and go. The
look of a congregation will change over the years. The one constant in a
successful church is unity. The second chapter of Acts becomes our playbook.

“May the God
who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among
yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may
glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 15:5-6).

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

One week ago we gathered for prayer in room 133 at NRN. It was an awesome time of prayer as we felt the presence of the Lord. God ministered to our hearts and encouraged us. There were several answers to prayer during the days that followed. To name two: baby Micah was discharged from the hospital; and many new guest came to church this past Sunday.

As we walked out door of the prayer room I was surprised by a short conversation about the TV show Duck Dynasty.

Here is a clip from YouTube that I found very interesting:

This clip was recorded on a FLIP recording device. Here is the transcript:

Phil Robertson, a.k.a.
The Duck Commander, from the hit A&E reality television show Duck Dynasty
(Wednesdays, 9 p.m. Central) talks with Brent High, Lipscomb University
Associate A.D. for Spiritual Formation, about the ending to his prayers that
are aired at the end of every episode of Duck Dynasty.

This footage was captured on November 8, 2012 at Phil's duck blind near his
home
I'm sorry for the poor audio quality. I was recording this on a flip cam.
Here's a transcript of what Phil said:

PHIL: Last night was the first time
from all the episodes, cause I kept ragging them about it, because every time I
would offer a prayer, you know, in Jesus name, amen. I noticed they always cut
out in Jesus name and I thought, so I told them, I said, now I know you boys is
just hired by A&E to film us doing what we do here. I said, but, we're all
counting time by Him. I would think of all the individuals ever to walk on
planet earth, the way it turned out, we only count time by one of them, ONE, I
said Jesus of Galilee. I said I would think you wouldn't mind using His name in
any situation since you're counting time by Him. And they're all really looking
at me like we've never thought about that. I said well, I'm just sayin. If
you're counting time by someone I would think He would be at least worthy of
investigation. A lot, been a lot of characters on planet earth, I said you
know, what did they call all of the years before He got here? I said you call
them before He got here.

BRENT: And so last night they
finally included it right?

PHIL: They included it last night so
we're makin' headway.

Tonight at 6:30 we will gather again for prayer. You are invited to join us or send us a prayer request via a comment. Please know that when we pray - the trust and believe in the power of God and we conclude our prayers "...in Jesus Name...Amen."

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The BibleExecutive Producers Roma Downey and Mark BurnettPremiers March 3, 2013, on the History Channel

This epic, 10-hour miniseries brings to life many of the
stories of the Bible in a new and compelling way.

“Our job is to make you connect—either reconnect with the
stories or connect for the first time with these stories,” says Mark Burnett,
who with his wife, Roma Downey, produced the miniseries. Downey starred in the
television series Touched by an Angel and plays Mary in the miniseries,
and Burnett is the producer of multiple hit television shows such as Survivor
and The Voice.

The Bible series includes
compelling depictions of biblical stories including creation; Noah; Abraham;
Moses; the parting of the Red Sea; David and Goliath; Azariah, Hananiah and
Mishael in the fiery furnace; and the life of Jesus.

Here is a glimpse into this series:

Another moment to be remembered: Featuring Roma Downey as Mary.

The miniseries will begin on March 3, 2013 and conclude on March 31 - Easter Sunday

Many times I am concerned that the History Channel is re-writing the Bible for our generation. I hold the conviction that HISTORY is in fact, HIS STORY. I believe God is in control. I hope this miniseries lives up to it's claims!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Each Sunday we greet First Time Guest at NRN. I always ask for a phone number or email address to contact each guest personally and provide information about our growing and developing ministries. Some guest return - others do not. I often hear how our church is so friendly and people are greeted so wll.

More and more I am growing perplexed about if people coming to our church for the first time are really "guest" or "visitors". Here is an article that make me think - and felt I should pass it along:

5 Types of Church Visitors

Ron
Edmondsonoffers a helpful
description of the different types of guests you'll find at your church

One thing pastors love is church visitors. Really, what we like even more is church visitors who
become regular church attendees, but that process begins with visitors.

It’s always a mystery why some visit a church and never
come back. Those reasons may be the subject of another post, but one thing I’ve
learned, much of the chance for return depends on why the person chooses to
visit in the first place.

I have discovered there are basically 5 types
of visitors to a church:

Testers

These visitors are just looking around…perhaps for a new
church…perhaps because they are dissatisfied where they currently attend
church. They may feel they are not growing at their current
church, or they aren’t completely satisfied with the leadership, the programs,
or the opportunities for service available. If testers find what they are
looking for, they’ll be back, but most likely, there is a specific fit they are
seeking.

I wouldn’t suggest altering things to keep them, but make
sure their questions are answered.

Pleasers

These visitors are usually coming to appease someone who
asked them. They have less interest in attending church than they
have in satisfying the request of a spouse or friend. This is not a bad way to
get them at first, and I’m always happy to have them, but it is harder to get
them to stick unless God moves in their hearts for attending church to become
their personal desire.

For these visitors, the person inviting them is just as
important as the visitor in keeping them, but help the pleaser feel welcome,
don’t make them feel uncomfortable, and you’ve got a good chance of seeing them
return.

Seekers

These are people who know they are missing something in
life but aren’t sure what it is.

Church may simply be another option, or it may be the
only option, but these are the true unchurched. These visitors are a mission
field. If we introduce them to Christ, they become forever loyal
to the church where they found Him.

Jumpers

These visitors seldom stay long at one church. They get upset at something the church does, the church
enters a building program that scares them away, or they simply grow bored.
Likely, they’ll only stick for a while at the new church, too, so don’t be take
it personally if they disappear, as it may not be anything you did or didn’t
do.

Enjoy them while they are with you.

Investors

Most likely, these people moved to your community or some
major issue caused them to leave their current church. These visitors are active church attendees looking for a
new long-term home. They are ready to quickly commit and serve. It’s important to plug these people in as soon as
possible.

Again, churches love visitors. In fact, we like any of
these five types.

Knowing why someone is visiting your church,
however, often helps the way you respond to them and gives you a better chance
of keeping them.

I wouldn’t recommend you ask them which of these they
are, but it’s good to have in the back of your mind as you get to know them.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Tomorrow at NRN was will an awesome Sunday to gather to sing the prises to our Great God and pray to His Name. God has given me a message that I cannot contain. I believe Sunday will be a life changing moment for some people who attend. Join me in prayer and trusting God for an outpouring of His Holy Spirit and the anointing of God to be upon the preaching of His Word.

Here is the worship we have planned for tomorrow:

We will pause to take our petitions and request to the Lord. It is good to pray to God. He longs for His people to come before Him in prayer. Then we will sing of His greatness.....

My message is once again from the Old Testament:

“The Sign of the Scarlet Cord”

The Story of Rahab

In writing about Rahab, Charles Spurgeon calls her “an obedient
believer.” As he notes, “Rahab was told to tie the scarlet cord in the window,
and she did it; there was exact obedience. It was not merely a thread, a line,
but the scarlet cord. She did not substitute a blue, or a green or a white
line.”As we walk in faith, let us do so
with steps of obedience.

Friday, January 18, 2013

After 36 years of pastoral ministry I find myself
perplexed by some trends that are unlike anything I have ever experienced. I
wondered if my experience was normal or if only our church was living with some
new realities. In response to my inner turmoil, I began a conversation with Tom
Nees, Dennis King, and Geoff DeFranca, who have solid track records as pastors
and church leaders. We shared our thoughts about what we referred to as “the
new normal.”

First: The first trend observed is a transition in the church that has
forced us to reconsider the definition of “regular” church attendance. Irregular
church attendance is the new regular. To put it simply, because people
attend less frequently, it takes more people to average 100 than it did 10
years ago.

Second: A second observation is that because of the age group churches
are attracting (under 35) and the lack of church background for many, the
typical giving patterns are also different. What motivates this age group to
contribute is not a commitment to the institution but rather a response to
investing in people and causes. Giving levels are further impacted by high debt
loads and other factors. This means that leaders must work more diligently to
develop resources because it takes more people to generate a basic monetary
amount than it did 10 years ago.

Third: The third issue has to do with measuring ministry. Traditional
measurements have focused on “bodies in the pews and greenbacks in the plates.”
In other words, the number of people attending and the amount of money they
were contributing were two key indicators of a church’s health and vitality. In
fact, in the 1970s and 1980s, pastors and churches were introduced to the
“science” of church growth in which statistical formulas were used to predict results.
Now it seems that most of those formulas are obsolete and leaders have the
difficult task of determining what is true of the setting in which they
minister. The following is an attempt to define normality for my setting.

The New Normal for Attendance
Someone asked me recently if I was upset about our attendance patterns.
Quickly, I confessed that I was perplexed and perturbed by the erratic
attendance patterns. The composition of the congregation that I came to pastor
15 years ago is different today. My sense is that there is not a single factor
but rather a constellation of changes that reflect the complexity of defining
what is normal and an emerging new reality.

Some of the trends I have observed include:

Church
is increasingly on a list of competing options for Sunday mornings.

Some
people attend multiple churches depending on programs offered, personal
needs, and schedules of family members.

Participants
who had been driving a distance are struggling to afford the gasoline.

An
increasing number of families are gone during the summer months.

Many
people who may not have been able to take week-long vacations are opting
instead for a number of weekend excursions, extending well into the fall.

While
older, core Nazarenes have held fairly consistent attendance patterns,
their numbers are dwindling due to deaths and major health changes. With
that reality, we find that it takes more than one person to make up for
their attendance. While there has been a wonderful influx of new people,
particularly younger families, their attendance patterns are much less
consistent than those of the older members.

While it would be tempting to make judgments about the
level of commitment reflected in these changing trends, instead I am seeking to
understand how to minister effectively in these new realities.

In the second decade of my ministry, Elmer Towns reported that the average
church attendee missed seven times a year. More recently, Bud Reedy, pastor at
Stillmeadow Church of the Nazarene in York, Pennsylvania, shared that as they
have studied attendance trends, they find average attendance is about 1.8 times
a month, with a 40 percent turnover in the children’s department every week.
While this may vary in each context, frequency of attendance has changed
dramatically. Regardless of the particular formula used for a church’s
situation, it is readily apparent that it takes more people to average 100 in
worship than it did when attendance patterns were “more normal.”

The New Normal for Giving
While the traditional Nazarene gives tithes and offerings, and is even willing
to make a weekly commitment to Faith Promise, those new to the church, as well
as younger families, are not as consistent. Despite the fact that we are living
in a weak economy, the evidence suggests that other factors are at play and
will require a long term strategy.

Many
people have been impacted by the economic downturn. Tight budgets have
become tighter. We have responded to more needy families in the
congregation this year than I can remember in any of the last 10 years.

People
under 35 tend to give to people and causes instead of to institutions.

Debt
load for the under 35 generation is incredibly high due to life style
choices, educational loans, credit card debt, and mortgages.

Some
retirees, dependent on income from investments, have found themselves with
less discretionary income than they had anticipated.

We are increasingly called on to do more with less. We
are also experiencing a change in the amount of time volunteers are willing to
give. We live in a sprint culture rather than a marathon culture of long-term
commitments. Pastors and leaders are challenged to invest more time and energy
in finding creative ways to develop these resources.

The New Normal for Measurement
While living in the shadow of mega churches where comparisons are often made,
we are also aware that many churches are either in decline or have hit a
plateau. In my setting, we have noticed several important changes.

While
attendance and financial giving appear to be at a plateau, changing
attendance and giving patterns simply reflect that we are ministering to
as many or perhaps more families, but our measurements are not as
effective because of the previously mentioned changes.

As
we look at the Great Commission, “To go and make disciples,” the changes
in attendance and giving patterns may serve to create a new definition of
normal. The trends, over which we have little control, force us to wrestle
with the more fundamental questions. Are people coming to faith in Christ?
Are people experiencing life transformations as they respond to the
message of holiness? It is this focus that continues to energize me and
helps me view the future optimistically.

So what is normal? I’m afraid the answer to this question
is more complex than we may realize. Rather than live with the complexity it is
easier to make assumptions that ultimately have a negative impact, particularly
on the pastoral morale of those still measuring ministerial effectiveness with
metrics that no longer reflect the new normal. Quite frankly, I am concerned
about the morale of many of my pastor friends who seem drained of passion
because they are unable to fill up the pews, meet budget targets, and staff
their ministry needs with volunteers.

This is a period of unprecedented transitions that are not necessarily
initiated internally. I would compare this period of my ministry to what I
observe on a popular TV program where folks risk their lives to fish for king
crab on seas that are unpredictable and deadly. Within the context of one
fishing season those workers experience changing seas and unpredictable
conditions that spawn a wide range of emotions from exhilaration to panic and
fear. Why would anyone do that?

It is the thrill of the catch that makes them willing to
go out each season. This is not a day where a GPS approach to ministry is much
help. Things are changing too rapidly with little predictability. The call of
Christ is the only real stabilizing anchor in these changing seas.

Personally, there is no greater joy than when I look around me during the
Sunday morning service and see twentysomethings sitting in the front rows,
praising God because He has delivered them from sin and its enslaving
addictions. The joy on their faces reveals that God is healing brokenness. When
that happens, my anxieties about what is normal are calmed, and I am at peace
with God’s incredible grace that is bringing lost children back home. I confess
that I do not know what is normal about attendance and giving, but I do know
that when lost people find God, that is “normal,” and God is pleased.

Russ Long is senior pastor at Bel Air Church of the Nazarene in Bel Air,
Maryland.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

The group of male fans who have cheered on the Washington Redskins for three decades while wearing dresses,
floppy hats and pig snouts announced Friday that the group is retiring.

The Hogettes said on their website that it's a ''new
era.'' They say they'll still be Redskins fans and will be continue to help
raise money for children's charities - although in more ''incognito'' fashion.

Hogettes founder Michael Torbert told The Washington Post
that 30 seasons is ''enough of guys in pig snouts and dresses.''

The Hogettes began in 1983, when they started putting on
dresses to entertain patients at children's hospitals. They also became
fixtures at Redskins games, getting their name from the team's legendary
''Hogs'' offensive line.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

The Bible promises that
God will answer every prayer that is according to his will.

How can I know my
prayers are God’s will?

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that
if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he
hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.(1 John 5:14-15)

Rick and Sharron Hudgens

About Me

I am privileged to be a servant of the Lord God Almighty on High. God has blessed me with a beautiful wife, Sharron, two twin daughters, Danielle and Stephanie, a great son-in-law, Josh (married to Stephanie), and my first granddaughter, Alyse Nicole. In October 2009 Danielle married Jessie Bolder and we welcome Jessie and our new grand daughter Jayden into our family. On April 16, 2010 Danielle gave birth to Jordan Richard Bolder - our first grand son. A few weeks later on May 7th Stephanie gave birth to Breeley May. The latest update is the our daughter Stephanie gave birth to Cammie Lynley on July 12, 2013. Sharron and I are blessed people.